


Mala

by Meloncholor



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Familiars, Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 22:30:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20881733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meloncholor/pseuds/Meloncholor
Summary: Lillian takes Muriel to her favorite shop, and then she meets a new friend.





	Mala

“Can we leave soon?” He pulls the tattered hood down over his eyes and tries to squeeze into Lillian’s shadow. The request falls on deaf ears, as the mage was preoccupied with the overzealous fruit merchant haggling over her oranges. 

“Oh I can’t go below forty darling, these oranges are native only to Prakra!” The vendor’s smile is rouge-stained and insincere. She also didn’t seem to be intimidated by the man-mountain looming over her patron’s shoulder. 

Lillian furrowed her brows as she picked up an orange to inspect; Muriel had to stifle a snort as he obnoxiously hummed at the fruit, bringing it closer and turning it in her hand. The mage clicks her tongue and returns the orange to the pile. “These aren’t Prakran.” She says smiling, a glimmer of mischief in her amber eyes.

The merchant’s facade falters, her anger flaring through the salesman persona. “Miss, I assure you--”

“Oranges don’t grow natively in Prakra, if anything these are from Llomerryn, which isn’t even a full day’s walk. I’m paying twenty-five for these, take it or leave it.” The merchant woman’s eye twitched, unchecked aggression unhidden in her next toothy smile. 

“Fine.” She gritted through clenched teeth. The merchant stormed off to get them a basket. Lillian turned back to Muriel and winked. He actually managed a small, amused smile. “Here you go.” The vendor had returned with a bushel of oranges, her icy glare unaffecting Lillian’s cheery aura. “Have a  _ wonderful _ day.” 

“I will! Thank you!” The mage chimes and waves to the woman as she turns from the booth. Muriel follows close behind into the busy market, struggling to avoid other patrons. The noise was oppressively loud, and it was all he could do to stave off the oncoming migraine. “What else dow we have to do today?” He half-grunted, half-whispered. Lillian slowed in front of another stall, reaching behind her to hand him the basket of oranges.

“Give me one sec.” She ignores the vendor vying for her attention and shoves both her hands into her satchel. “Ah- HA!” She cheers and pulls out a folded strip of paper that he had assumed was crushed by the chaos inside that bag of hers. She holds it close to her face as her eyes scan down the page. “Looks like we have to go to the red market, Marciello said he would have those one-eyed frogs for me today.”

“I hate that place,” Muriel grumbled and pulled his hood down even more. She curled her hand into the crook of his arm, pulling him away from the bustling market. The crowd thins out as she drags him down into another alleyway. 

“You hate most places, Muriel.” She giggles and releases his arm once there’s enough space for them to have a conversation. They could still hear the sounds of the market, but they were definitely secluded on the narrow street.

He gave her a flustered huff and averted his eyes. “I don’t hate being at home, or anywhere with you.” His face goes bright red as she laughs again.

She flushes only a little, a wide smile gracing her features. “You big softie.” She says softer than usual. They stand awkwardly for a moment, soaking in the relative quiet. When she can’t stand it anymore, she claps her hands together loudly. “Come on! I know an entrance nearby, and then we’ll be in and out and ‘boom’ we’re home!” She chimes, heading down the path. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and he can’t hide his grin as he followers her again.

The farther they walked, the more green foliage seemed to creep up from the edges of the buildings and the less and less people passed by them. He almost asks if she’s lost, because he knows that the red market is supposed to be by the colosseum. If anything they were walking in the opposite direction. But she takes another turn through a fence gate. Hesitating, he follows her, cradling the oranges for dear life. “I don’t really like this place either.”

The fenced garden was sheltered by an overhanging canopy of unattended foliage, draping the small area in a midday twilight. Spots of color and light dotted the ground, but it looked like no one had been here in ages. She doesn’t seem scared and looks around as if she’s quite fond of the place. She kept walking deeper inside, and Muriel was starting to struggling to find a place where he could stand straight and even enough footing. 

“Don’t worry.” She looks back to him, sunlight catching in the gold of her eyes. “I can fight off the stray cats if I have to.” 

She stopped as Muriel rolled his eyes. They were in the center of the garden, overgrown trees and bushes surrounded them on all sides, and if it weren’t for the occasional shard of glass or stray fencepost, you wouldn’t be able to tell you were in a busy city. 

“Where’s the entrance?” He pulled his hood away with his free hand. She points to the ground, where Muriel could see the faint outline of a circle.

“This hatch entrance is the closest to Marciello’s place. Could you open it for me please?” She beams up at him, shifting her eyes between mountain man and the hatch. 

He takes a good look at the metal disk, then her. He sighs, hiding a smile and hands her the oranges. She bounces on her heels as he kneels down, lifting the hatch open with ease. “Come on.” He says gruffly, before taking his first step to descend down the rickety ladder.

The hatch entrance must not have been the most popular of the red market’s entries, as the hall it opened in to was dusty and filled with cobwebs. Muriel could feel the errant tendrils of magic coming from farther in, but he wasn’t able to tell whether or not the source was friendly. When Lillian’s feet touch the solid ground she saddles her basket on her hip and conjures a small blue sphere of light. It doesn’t travel far, only illuminating her face. Nonetheless, she charges past him.

“Where are you going?” He asks, confused and a little scared.

“Uh, to Marciello’s?” She arched an eyebrow and turned over her shoulder. The little light popped out of existence, followed by a loud, hollow, knocking. 

Muriel takes a backstep toward the ladder. “We should go.” He grits through his teeth.

The room is flooded in warm light and aromatic incense in an instant, the sound of lulled conversation filling his ears. Lillian stood in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear. “You coming?’

“Right.” He flushes pink and quickly follows her across the hall and through the entryway. “Whatever.” When he passes the threshold, the sound bombards his ears. Marciello’s shop is filled with exotic creatures, big and small. 

In the center of the high-ceiling room was a tree, strewn with strings of softly glowing lights. Small birds and monkies played and ate among its large branches. The entire ‘shop’ was massive, extending further down the market strip than he expected. Surrounding the base of the tree was a low stone fence draped over with low vines. The chirping and chattering almost drowned out his own thoughts. Muriel had heard Lillian’s wild stories about this place, but none of them could have down its chaotic energy justice. Across from them, on the other side of the tree, they could see the underground market bustling as per usual through the wide entry arches. “Marciello!” The mage cheers. Muriel’s eyes are fixed on the tree when she bustles away. She crosses the room to a suave-looking man sitting by a small desk up front. 

“There you are, my dear!” His eyes light up when he sees her, standing up to catch her in an embrace. After a moment he rounds the corner and catches them both as they part, the suave man resting his hands on her waist. “Aren’t you just a vision.” He purred.

His eyes continue to linger until Muriel clears is throat. “Oh!” Lillian says. “Marciello, this is Muriel, Muriel this is Marciello.” The mountain man just grunts and the merchant reluctantly steps back from Lillian, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Well hello, I am assuming you’re both here for the frogs yes?” He hooks his eyes back on her, and she nods furiously. “Give me a moment to get them for you, the trader from Llomerryn came this morning.” He bows to them with an exaggerated flourish and disappears off further into the shop. Attention now unoccupied, Lillian resigns to wander off somewhere in the maze of a shop. 

“He’s weird,” Muriel mumbles, not protesting when she walks away from the desk. 

“A little.” She agrees. 

Striding past the tree, sh goes down another group of larger animals, each either chained or crated. Lillian didn’t like this part of the shop. There were beasts she wasn’t even sure really existed, and animals as simple as street mongrels and horses, each with their own designated space along the walls. Muriel was shrunken back into her shadow. “I hope we can leave soon,” he whispers to her.

_ “Leave?” _ The sound is soft in the back of her head, nudging its way into the forefront of her thoughts. She whips her head around to Muriel.

“What did you say?” 

“Nothing, I just wish we’d leave soon.”

“Huh, right.”

_ “Leave?”  _ The voice was more urgent, and louder than she would have expected. She whipped her head around until her intention was caught by a pair of seafoam blue eyes. It was held to the wall by a heavy chain clamped around its neck, but it stood at attention, pulling the chain taut. A massive golden tiger stood from the crowd of fauna, jewel-like eyes trained on her. Lillian cocks her head, awe and confusion taking over her features.

“Muriel?” She whispers aside to him. 

“Hm?” He turns and he lays eyes on the creature. The tiger makes a low rumbling noise in her throat and pulls slightly on the chain around her neck. “She likes you, I think.” He smiles, and takes a step forward, reaching out his hand. The animal responds immediately pushing her head hard into his hand, relishing as he scratched behind her ears.

_ “Warm…”  _ The little voice says. 

Lillian takes her own step forward, and the tiger whips its head from Muriel to face her, pulling again on the chain.

“She definitely likes you.”

The apprentice finally steps close enough for her to reach out her hand to the tighter, and is great by a warm fuzzy head pressing hard against the offered hand. The animal purrs, deep and low in her throat. Lillian is entranced by the interaction, and she moves closer to weave both her hands into the golden and silky fur coat. The cat just takes this as an invitation to get as friendly as possible and in seconds she’s up on her hind legs, two very large paws encircling Lillian in an awkward embrace.  _ “Warm!” _ The voice is joyous and bubbly in her mind and the animal almost encompasses Lillian’s whole body in an embrace. The purring rumbles hard against her ears, but she has no intention of moving, the more she stroked her hands through the golden fur, the more she realized she never wanted to leave.

“Uh, Lillian? Are you alright?” Muriel’s voice breaks through the fog and the pair are brought back into reality. The tiger drops her large body back to the floor but presses her massive head against the woman’s arm.

“There you two are!” Marciello appears from nowhere, carrying a large glass fishbowl, covered with a cork. “You wouldn’t believe how they stored these, it's just--” he freezes when he sees the tiger. He shoots a look to Lillian, then the animal. “How on earth are you doing that?” He spits out in an almost whisper.

“Doing what?” Lillian dropped a hand to stroke the creature’s head again, who was delightfully ignoring the shopkeep who looked as though he was going to pass out all of the sudden.

“Getting anywhere  _ near _ that thing!” He gestures to the purring cat.

“She’s friendly?”

He squints his eyes in confusion, then looks to Muriel, who shrugs. 

“I’ll give you the frogs for free if you take ‘ _ her’ _ out of here.” He says finally, shoving the frogs into Muriel’s chest.

“Really?” Lillian beams and looks down at the tiger, who was still trying to get her hand back on her head. The mage crouches so she’s eye-level with the cat and gives her her best attempt at chin scritches. “You’re coming home with me buddy!” the cat purrs even louder than before.

“Lillian, I don’t think that’s the best--” He’s cut off by Marciello storming off to the other side of the shop, mumbling dejectedly about how ‘this wasn’t his problem anymore.’ But Lillian ignored him.

The tiger and her newfound friend had pressed their foreheads together, eyes gently closed. “What’s your name?” Lillian whispers, feeling her magic surge in delight, as the cat’s voice rings clear in her mind.

_ “Mala.” _

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt requested by @theworldbeneathmyheadscarf on Tumblr, kudos to them for the idea, because I really like it. Leave a comment if you like, if you don't, or if you just want to call me a fake gamer girl.


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